WEBVTT - How Do Bidets Work?

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<v Speaker 1>Welcome to brain Stuff, a production of iHeart Radio, Hey

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<v Speaker 1>brain Stuff Lauren Vogel bomb here. Americans as a culture

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<v Speaker 1>are fairly interested in hygiene, or the country that popularized

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<v Speaker 1>hand sanitizer, for example, but parts of Europe and Asia

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<v Speaker 1>have been on the bidet bandwagon for a long time,

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<v Speaker 1>whereas Americans are apparently fine with cleaning their bottoms less

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<v Speaker 1>well than other cultures. But why It might have to

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<v Speaker 1>do with the biday's long and illustrious history, popular in

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<v Speaker 1>fancy European households since the sixteen hundreds. The original biday

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<v Speaker 1>was a little chair or stool with a tub of

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<v Speaker 1>water built into the seat. The user, after doing all

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<v Speaker 1>of their chamber pop business, straddled this device and washed

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<v Speaker 1>themselves off. The word biday means pony in French, which

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<v Speaker 1>goes a long way in helping the user understand how

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<v Speaker 1>to use it. Over the centuries, bidays became popular in

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<v Speaker 1>at rooms all over the world. Eventually they became a

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<v Speaker 1>plumbed fixture in the bathroom, sitting right next to the toilet,

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<v Speaker 1>but they never took off in the US. It's possible

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<v Speaker 1>that during and after World War Two, American soldiers visiting

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<v Speaker 1>brothels in Europe and Japan noticed bi days were common

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<v Speaker 1>in these establishments and began to associate the days with

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<v Speaker 1>sex work. It's possible they thought bidays were used as

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<v Speaker 1>a douching method, which was thought at the time to

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<v Speaker 1>be a legit contraceptive practice. It's not so. Even though

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<v Speaker 1>the style of biday most commonly used throughout the world

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<v Speaker 1>now was developed in the United States, it had to

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<v Speaker 1>be exported elsewhere to become what it is today. For

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<v Speaker 1>the article, this episode is based on Hows to work.

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<v Speaker 1>Spoke by email with Sarah Shearer, owner of Clean Water

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<v Speaker 1>Bidays in Squim, Washington. She explained the old type of biday,

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<v Speaker 1>the style that's a separate unit that sits next to

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<v Speaker 1>the toilet, is harder to work on. They require a

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<v Speaker 1>few thousand dollar remodel to install hall and they take

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<v Speaker 1>up a lot of space. Most Americans only see them

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<v Speaker 1>when they're on vacation in Europe, but they're still sold. Sometimes.

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<v Speaker 1>More common these days are the biday seats, an attachment

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<v Speaker 1>that it fixes to your toilet, replacing your old toilet seat.

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<v Speaker 1>This device sprays your bone with a jet of water.

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<v Speaker 1>It can be tap temperature or warmed with an inseat device.

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<v Speaker 1>Depending on how much you want to pay. There's a

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<v Speaker 1>front wash for cleaning the genitals. The biday attachment is

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<v Speaker 1>less expensive. You can buy a nice one and stick

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<v Speaker 1>it on your toilet yourself for less than four hundred bucks,

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<v Speaker 1>and some more basic models for much cheaper. It's also

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<v Speaker 1>more accessible than a traditional bidat, which requires the user

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<v Speaker 1>to do their business on the toilet, stand up, scooch

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<v Speaker 1>over to the biday and sit back down to do

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<v Speaker 1>the freshening up. A shearer said. The first rudimentary bidday

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<v Speaker 1>attachment was created in the US in the nineteen twenties.

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<v Speaker 1>It didn't get very popular in America, but it really

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<v Speaker 1>caught on in Asia, where it's been engineered into what

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<v Speaker 1>it is today. In Japan, for instance, biday attachments can

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<v Speaker 1>be found in eight percent of homes and in public restrooms.

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<v Speaker 1>Most are produced in South Korea and some in China.

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<v Speaker 1>Using a biday may sound like a difficult process and

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<v Speaker 1>could be a bit intimidating at first, but it's really

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<v Speaker 1>quite simple and depends on the type of biday that

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<v Speaker 1>you're using. You use the toilet as you normally would,

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<v Speaker 1>both for urination and for defecation. The biday can be

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<v Speaker 1>used after you wipe with toilet paper or without the

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<v Speaker 1>use of toilet paper a totally personal preference, So what

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<v Speaker 1>you do is locate the biday. There are three basic types, standalone,

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<v Speaker 1>seat mounted, or wall hanging. For the stand alone type,

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<v Speaker 1>you must move off the toilet and straddle the biday,

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<v Speaker 1>either facing the water jet or with your back to it,

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<v Speaker 1>again personal preference. For the type of biday attached to

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<v Speaker 1>the toilet seat, locate the controls, which will either be

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<v Speaker 1>mounted on the wall or attached to the seat itself.

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<v Speaker 1>The wall hanging type of BIDAY will function much as

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<v Speaker 1>a handheld shower device. Then when you're finished, by yourself off.

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<v Speaker 1>Some bday models have an air drying system, which you'll

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<v Speaker 1>operate with controls, and which can of course be used

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<v Speaker 1>in combination with toilet paper should you feel the need.

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<v Speaker 1>Some models don't include the air dry feature and necessitate

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<v Speaker 1>the use of toilet paper or towels. Although the days

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<v Speaker 1>definitely cannot ward off pregnancy or STDs, they can be

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<v Speaker 1>a healing balmb for other conditions. Shearer said. We see

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<v Speaker 1>them used most in the US for people who have

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<v Speaker 1>a medical need. Crones colitis, colon cancer, irritable bowel syndrome.

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<v Speaker 1>The symptoms that make life hard with these conditions can

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<v Speaker 1>be alleviated with bida seats. General practitioners O b G

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<v Speaker 1>y n S and occupational therapists send patients to us

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<v Speaker 1>for a variety of conditions. We have people who used

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<v Speaker 1>to get urinary tract infections once or twice a month

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<v Speaker 1>come in and tell this they're down to three or

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<v Speaker 1>four times a year after getting a bida seat. It

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<v Speaker 1>can make an extreme difference. Not only that, but as

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<v Speaker 1>we age, it's more difficult to keep lean, particularly if

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<v Speaker 1>we develop arthritis or other rheumatic disease. It makes it

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<v Speaker 1>harder to maneuver a wipe or wash, and infections like

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<v Speaker 1>U T e S can be a lot more serious

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<v Speaker 1>and older patients. Bdays can help with this. A sharer said,

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<v Speaker 1>for a lot of aging people, the main thing that's

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<v Speaker 1>going to keep them independent and at home the longest

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<v Speaker 1>is their ability to toilet themselves. However, some research has

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<v Speaker 1>shown that bidats can make some conditions like anal fissures

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<v Speaker 1>and vaginal bacterial infections worse. If you're experiencing any kind

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<v Speaker 1>of medical issue, definitely consult a medical care provider before

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<v Speaker 1>self treating. On another hand, bidats might help the planet.

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<v Speaker 1>While it's true the bidats use water, it's not as

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<v Speaker 1>much as a luxurious shower. But the real savings come

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<v Speaker 1>in when you consider how much toilet paper you don't

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<v Speaker 1>have to use if you're using a bi day. Almost

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<v Speaker 1>of the toilet paper sold in the US comes from

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<v Speaker 1>the Virgin boreal forests Canada, which cover about six of

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<v Speaker 1>the country. They're making the air we breathe in addition

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<v Speaker 1>to the toilet paper we use, and the American lack

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<v Speaker 1>of interest in bidays means that although our country accounts

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<v Speaker 1>for only about four point five percent of the world's population,

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<v Speaker 1>our citizens use about of the world's toilet tissue, which

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<v Speaker 1>is why America might need to jump on that biday bandwagon.

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<v Speaker 1>Today's episode is based on the article getting to the

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<v Speaker 1>Bottom of the Biday on how stuff Works dot Com,

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<v Speaker 1>written by Jescelyn Shields. Brain Stuff is production of I

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<v Speaker 1>Heart Radio in partnership with how stuff Works dot Com,

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<v Speaker 1>and it is produced by Tyler Clang. Four more podcasts

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<v Speaker 1>from my heart Radio visit the i heart Radio app,

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